I assume you're looking at buy and hold, so you have to think about what non-cosmetic things will be coming up down the road that will eat into your profit, or in the case of the current numbers, put you deep into the red.

If all of my eggs were in one basket (city/holding residential rentals) I'd consider diversifying a bit on investment strategies and locations.

Stay in a hotel in the area and eat at local restaurants.

@Glenn Curry This is one of those chicken/egg questions that a lot of people ask.Most important thing is to start.

My process takes time, but I love the idea of infinite ROI, market swing insulation and having a goose that lays golden eggs forever.

We don’t necessarily want them to reduce it $25K as that’s eats into cash for another deal.Appreciate any additional input.

@Kate Zhang The challenge with rentals is that there are always unexpected events that can eat away at your expected cash flow, unless you have a large multi-unit building with lots of contingencies for this. 

It's only a stepping stone to break free.While you are slaving, eat ramen, room mate up or live in trailer, avoid Starbucks and tuck every dollar you can squeeze out into a bank account. need 20% down and money for materials. so for 80K home (trashed), you will want 35K banked to get started, just a rough idea.Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers.

My first thought is that it was a no brainer, but my realtor got into my head when she said that it may harm resale to only have an eat in kitchen and not have a formal dining room.

A better way might be “inflation eats returns” or looking at your ‘real’ rate of return, and despite inflation, 8% Cash on Cash certainly will get you far if you’re patient.